by UD Yasha
‘I need to tell you something,’ I said. ‘Kishore Zakkal is killing again. I’m working on his case. I’m trying to put him away for good.’
I realized when I said the words out loud, that somewhere deep down, we had been preparing for this day to come. We had always known it would. That’s why we had also been summoning up the will to fight it when it did come.
It was here now.
The moment was real. Scary. We couldn’t run away from it.
The dam of my emotions broke.
My eyes became watery. I hadn’t expected myself to react this way. Maa’s shoulders drooped and her face turned white. She leaned forward and took my hand in hers. She stared into my eyes. Then, she first pulled Radha close to her and then put an arm around me.
We said nothing.
We just sat that way, trying to make sense of it all. There was a certain calmness at that moment. We were together, still safe and that's what mattered. I don't remember how long we spent sitting like that, but I felt like we had all hit rock bottom that very moment. Knowing that I felt strong and courageous to take the fight to Zakkal. I was going to keep my family safe and I was clear I wouldn't stop at anything to make that happen.
A rap on the door snapped us out of our haze.
Rathod ducked in. ‘Siya, can I have a word with you?’ he said.
I joined him outside.
He said, ‘Dr Barve just called me. They’ve found the location of the pollen grain that was in the flower Zakkal sent you.’
Chapter Twenty-Six
We went to the conference room to prepare for heading to the coordinates that Dr Barve had shared with Rathod. It was a small plant nursery called ‘Blossoms’ and was just off the Pune-Mumbai highway.
Rathod said, ‘Dr Barve told me that Blossoms was not on the list of places that Zakkal visited earlier, but the pollens from Blossoms have been recorded in the central directory of pollens. That’s how he found the match.’
‘How’s Dr Barve doing?’
‘He is hurting but he told me to get his wife back.’
While I wanted to know what we were going to find there, I had one big concern.
‘What about Radha, Rahul and Maa?’ I said. ‘Can they stay at the CID office tonight?’
‘We haven’t decided yet. There are two safe houses that we can put them in for now,’ Rathod said.
‘Are they on the CID record?’
‘Yes, both are in Pune.’
‘We can’t place them there. Zakkal has been pre-empting our every step. I don’t know how, but he definitely knows about those safe houses. The fire would have been a part of his plan to drive them out of the house.’
Rathod was silent for a beat. 'Okay, how about this? I know a safehouse…it's not technically a safe house. It's my uncle's place in Pashan. So, it's not too far from here. My uncle lives in the US and he had told me that I could use it any time I wanted, especially if I needed to lay low for a few days. It’s in his wife’s name so not directly traceable to me. Nobody knows about it apart from me and Bhalerao.’
‘And he wouldn’t mind?’
‘Not at all. He’s a big crime buff and keeps watching murder mysteries on TV. He’d be fascinated to know that his place came in handy in a real-life criminal investigation.’
I considered the idea. ‘If it’s not a CID safehouse, then what about having an officer?’
‘I can pull some strings and have someone I know guard it.’
I opened my mouth to say something but it was like Rathod read my mind. He said, 'I trust this guy. His name is Shubman Dhawan. He's a veteran. Retired early because he got diagnosed with cancer. He has recovered fully and works with security consultants. I can ask him to take a few days off. With respect to deciding where you all could stay, there are three options. We can either keep you here, which won't be possible for too long. Anyway, we would need to move you to another safe house. I agree with you that the CID safehouse is risky right now. That leaves us with no other option but to go to the place I'm talking about.'
'Let's do it then,' I said, knowing that taking this decision was like ripping off a Band-Aid. 'We'll go there once we return from Blossoms.'
‘I’ll call Dhawan and let him know,’ Rathod said. ‘I’ll also ask a hawaldar to take you all to one of the more comfortable rooms.’
‘Did Bhalerao find out anything more about Aarti Lunkad, the prostitute whom Zakkal killed?’
‘Yes, he’s called us to the conference room to talk about it.’
We pushed through the door and found Bhalerao talking on the phone. ACP Shukla entered the room as well.
‘I have some news,’ Shukla said. ‘Meghan Mathew just found out that CCTV cameras around your house caught a white Maruti Suzuki Ertiga leaving your lane right after the fire.’
‘Wait, that can’t be right,’ Rathod said, turning to me. We remembered the Ertiga we had seen leaving Sudha Barve’s house
‘What’s the registration number?’ I said.
‘MH12 ZA 7327. I know you both tracked it today morning.’ He turned to Rathod. ‘I noticed the remote APB that you had put on the registration number.’
A remote APB is a precautionary measure that police officers can take. It shows up in the system if a suspected registration plate is seen at another crime scene within twelve months.
Shukla continued. ‘We’ve secured a warrant for the driver’s arrest; his name is Kumar Singhal. Meghan Mathew is on the way to Kumar’s house with two hawaldars as we’re speaking.’
It suddenly made sense. Zakkal had paid off Kumar Singhal to do his dirty work, first diverting our attention, and now making sure we wouldn’t be able to return to our house. I highly suspected that he believed our house was tough to crack when he had contacted me through Meena Kiran. I became uncomfortable, knowing that Zakkal had us where he wanted—outside the fortification of our house.
‘Wouldn’t it be a problem as Singhal is one of Shirole’s men?’ Bhalerao said, joining the conversation.
‘We won’t be pressing charges against Shirole. What’s made it easier is that the car is officially owned by Singhal. I’m sure it’s for tax evasion purposes. But that helps us. As the car is registered to Singhal, we won’t have to press for vicarious liability. Singhal is under suspicion for committing a crime while using his own car, which is his own property. I don’t care if Shirole himself was directly involved in this. We just need to get Singhal to talk.’ Shukla referred to his watch. ‘My estimate is that Mathew will have Singhal in for interrogation when we’re at Blossoms.’
I could feel a sense of urgency injected into the investigation.
Rathod rose from his chair at the conference table. ‘Blossoms is a small plant nursery past Hinjewadi. Based on what Dr Barve told me, it houses an extremely rare species of plant, the pollen of which Zakkal sent to Siya.’
‘Is there a chance that it is from anywhere else?’ Shukla asked.
‘Dr Barve told me that he found a total of three pollen. One is a Pune-variety of the Hibiscus flower. The two other pollen attached to it came from plants called the Whistling Thorn and Guabiroba. They come from the African savannas and a forest in Portugal. The only known location of those two plants in India is Blossoms. As per Dr Barve, it’s a quirky place run by a passionate woman named Smita Kale.’
‘Got it,’ Shukla said.
Rathod continued. 'A team of six will visit Blossoms. It includes ACP Shukla, Siya, Bhalerao, two guarded police officers as backup and myself. Blossoms is about four thousand metres in size and square in shape.' Rathod spread its floor plan on the table. 'The police officers coming with us already have a copy of this plan. It has only one entrance. Once inside, we'll search the place to see what Zakkal has left for us.'
‘Does Smita Kale know we’re coming?’ I said.
‘I tried calling her but she didn’t answer. Either way, we have a warrant to search the place,’ Rathod said. ‘Any more questions?’
None of us said anything.
‘Alright, let’s go then,’ Rathod said and we followed him out.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
If you lived long enough in the city of Pune, you'd observe something strange about its Monsoon season. When it rained in Pune, it absolutely hammered down for half an hour. Just when people would get worried about water-logging and other rain-related issues, the rain would subside. On the other hand, the rains in Mumbai—Pune's sister city—were relentless.
The heavy showers for the evening were done and we drove to Blossoms in a light drizzle. We reached in twenty-five minutes.
A small light illuminated its entrance. Even at night, the place seemed cosy. Dense foliage covered the walls around the main gate. It was solid metal so we couldn't tell what was on the other side. A high fence, also covered in creepers, was erected around the property.
Rathod tried to push open the door but it seemed to be locked from the inside. He knocked hard on it and its echo reverberated through the metal.
No one responded.
Rathod tried Smita Kale again. He put the phone on speaker so we heard it ring. The call went unanswered as well.
Rathod beckoned the two police officers we had brought as a backup to come forward. The taller of the two pulled out a lockpick from his waist pouch and got to work.
We were inside in five minutes.
An open land dented with a stone path greeted us. The entire area was lit by mild yellow lights. The path went in three different directions. The first one turned left and headed to a small structure which was labelled as ‘Office’. The second path led to the large garden behind the office. The third led to a series of polyhouses. There were small reminders around the nursery to not pluck any flowers or harm any plants.
We headed for the office first.
We first noticed the pool of blood when we were a few feet from the office. The smell hit us later.
The blood had trickled out from under the door. Rathod and Shukla went into an alert stance and motioned me and Bhalerao to wait back. The two backup officers joined them on either side of the door. Rathod threw up one hand and counted down to zero.
The bald police officer kicked open the door. His partner stepped in, shouting ‘Police’, while Rathod and Shukla jumped inside too—all of it happened in one smooth motion.
‘Clear,’ Rathod shouted. ‘There’s a body inside.’
Everyone stepped back out to avoid contaminating the crime scene. Rathod came out of the office about thirty seconds later.
‘I’ve some coveralls in my car,’ the bald police officer said. ‘I’ll go get them.’
'It's Smita Kale,' Rathod said. 'I remember her from the picture that Dr Barve had shared. Her throat has been slashed. The body is cold but not hard. Rigour Mortis would have set in and has now gone. It's been more than twelve hours since she was killed, but I suspect she was killed before Siya got the letter. The air conditioner was on inside so the body hasn't started decomposing as such.'
The bald police officer came back with five plastic coveralls.
‘Why would Zakkal direct us to come here only to show us Smita Kale’s dead body?’ Bhalerao said.
‘I don’t think that’s the reason. She’s dead because she was in Zakkal’s way,’ I said and turned to Rathod. ‘Did Dr Barve tell you where those two plants are located inside the nursery?’
The taller of the two officers stepped forward and said, ‘I saw a map inside the office. It might help you find what you’re looking for.’ He slipped into the coveralls, took a picture of the map using his phone and sent it to Rathod.
'We'll search the office thoroughly later because I don't think we're going to find anything of use inside it,' Rathod said. 'You two stand guard at the main gate and make sure no one comes inside,' he said to the police officers.
Rathod zoomed into the map and we looked for Whistling Thorn and Guabiroba. We found it almost right away. They were in two different polyhouses, but there was a Hibiscus plant in the polyhouse between them.
The air in the nursery was much cooler than anywhere outside. A sweet smell of flowers lingered in the air a bit longer. If it weren’t for the circumstances, I knew I would have fallen in love with this place. Smita Kale had done a wonderful job with it, but she had unfortunately crossed paths with a psychopath.
We strode on the stone path and reached the polyhouse with the Hibiscus flowers. The polyhouse in itself was rectangular, with lights that emulated night time. Being inside the polyhouse would have been another calming experience had it not been for the situation. We walked in the aisles between various flowers and plants, most of which we had never seen in our lives. The Hibiscus flowers were supposed to be at the far end of the polyhouse. I could see the pink Hibiscus flowers as we approached the end of the aisle.
I noticed that there was an extremely small display at the end of each aisle. It had a ticker on it that mentioned the date and time along with temperature, humidity and a range of other parameters present inside the polyhouse.
‘Look at the last aisle,’ Shukla said.
Instead of a standard monitor, the last aisle had a larger screen. We went around the back end of the polyhouse and crossed to the last aisle.
‘That doesn’t belong here,’ Rathod said, looking
On getting closer to the larger display, we noticed that it was a large twelve-inch tablet. It was hooked up to a charger that was connected to a plug point on the ground.
I got a chance to look at the tablet screen when I got to the front of the aisle.
Its screensaver had a picture of Zakkal smiling. There was a message under the picture. It read: Hello Siya! It’s good to see you again. No matter what happens, follow my instructions. I’ll find out if you disobey me.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Zakkal had always been one for theatrics. He liked to make big statements. He wanted his subjects to be afraid of him. Even with me, everything that he had done so far was extravagant. So, seeing his face in full glory, grinning away while saying hello to me, was classic Zakkal.
His smile looked innocent. There was a new scar on his face. It ran on the right side of his forehead, over his eyebrow. The photo predominantly had his face and a part of his collar.
The front camera on the tablet flickered red ever so slightly as it tried to scan my face and failed. It didn’t have my face stored for authorized access so it prompted me to enter a six-digit password.
Bhalerao pulled a pair of gloves from his pant pockets and handed them to me.
‘The tablet’s touch won’t work with my gloves on,’ I said.
Shukla gestured with his hand for me to proceed.
‘Do you know what the password could be?’ Rathod asked.
I smiled as I realized what it could be. ‘I have a very solid guess in mind,’ I said and pressed 010801. The screen unlocked and revealed Zakkal’s smiling face once again. ‘Zakkal kidnapped Maa on the first of August in 2001,’ I said.
The tablet’s home screen had just one folder. It was titled ‘Open Me’. I tapped on it. There were two video files inside the folder. I could tell both were recorded videos, and not live because of their preview thumbnails. One file was named ‘Open Me First’ and the second was named ‘Be A Good Girl’. I tapped on the first file, and a video popped up, occupying the entire screen.
Zakkal, wearing blue denim jeans and a rolled-up red checkered shirt casually stepped into the camera frame.
I tried to look for signs of where he could be. He was smart enough to not let us find him through a video he had shared with us himself, but funnier things had happened. Some of the most menacing criminals in history had been caught because of something as unthreatening as a speeding ticket.
Zakkal seemed to be in a dark place that was lit by two yellow lamps hanging from the ceiling. The paint on the wall behind him was peeling. I could even make out some bricks.
Zakkal walked towards the camera, taking small but conscious steps. There was no other sound but for the echo
of his soles against the hard ground under him. A smirk curled his face.
As Zakkal got closer to the camera, I could see his eyes. I knew that look. I had seen it before—when I had visited him at Yerwada and I was certain that he would have killed me on the spot if the two sets of bars hadn't separated us. I felt my stomach churn, knowing what was coming next. It was like his eyes gave a preview of the horror we were about to witness.
Zakkal’s eyes glared at me. His face straightened when he got even closer to the camera. He was a few feet away when he reached out and realigned it. The new angle still showed Zakkal, but it also showed us a three-foot-tall table behind him.
Zakkal stepped back and went out of frame. A woman screamed, not so far away. Then Zakkal reentered the frame, but this time, he was carrying a woman in his arms. We didn’t recognize the woman, but going by whom Zakkal had been targeting, I guessed that we would later find out that she too was a prostitute. She was wearing a green T-Shirt and white shorts. The woman’s arms stretched either side as she cried and tried to get away. She stopped making a sound when Zakkal slapped her across the face. He stepped back and placed her on the low table. He strapped her to it. The woman’s consciousness returned and she tried to break free from the straps.
Zakkal leaned over her and placed a finger on her lip. From the angle we were looking at, the moment Zakkal’s finger touched her lip, the woman’s toes started shivering. The low cries were replaced by a stuttered wail.
Zakkal looked back at the camera. He bent down and pulled a small duffel bag from under the table. He kept it next to the woman’s feet. He rummaged inside the bag to take out a long transparent pipe. He kept it aside and then pulled out something that looked like a blood pressure monitor.
